


Cyber Ghost

by booobbypooh



Category: Akdong Musician, Lee Hi (Musician), Winner (Band), iKON (Korea Band)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-05
Updated: 2019-01-06
Packaged: 2019-10-04 21:53:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 19,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17312522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/booobbypooh/pseuds/booobbypooh
Summary: iKON version of the intense Korean drama, Ghost or Phantom, and I have adjusted the characters with our boys from iKON and WINNER and many more. Hope you guys like it.This is concerning the life of the team leader of cyber investigation team, Kim Hanbin who is working his ass off, together with his team members, to catch a genius hacker with nickname, "HADES".Little did he knew, HADES is the person who used to be his own bestfriend when they were in the police academy 10 years ago.// I change the plot a bit, and add more romance so it is more interesting. :)





	1. Chapter 1

Hanbin looks at the stack of files on his table and sighs. He massages his aching temple frustratedly, "Just who the hell is this fucking HADES?"

He looks at the lists of the PCs which have been hacked by the wanted hacker with the nickname 'HADES' and grits his teeth, "I have been working my ass off to track you down, but always fails each time," he just wants to crumple the paper, "Such a wicked bastard..."

He sips on the coffee and looks up when there are two knocks on the door. He smiles as a gorgeous girl comes out from the door with a file on her hand, "Hanbin-shi, we found him!"

His eyes widen, "Who?"

"HADES!"

With a wide smile carves on his lips, he immediately dashes with her to the computer room and quickly takes the seat beside his co-worker who is working on something on the laptop. 

"How is it going, Junhoe?" Hanbin asks curiously before the said man points his finger toward the laptop screen with a soft sigh, "We lost him.. Again.."

Hanbin grits his teeth in exasperation before hastily taking over the laptop. He begins typing in a fast motion on the black screen with some words popping on it. Hayi then smiles inwardly when a few lines of numbers appear on the screen, "Caught him~"

Hanbin also stops typing and says with a good mood, "IP:210.8.218.42:139. Hayi, quickly find the location of that IP address!"

After finding out the location, both Hayi and Hanbin rush to that place, which is a luxurious apartment named Palace Tower. Once they arrive at the apartment, Hanbin comes out of the car and calls Junhoe while Hayi following him from behind.

"We have arrived. What is the house number?" He asks and ends the call once Junhoe tells him, "1101."

However, just when they walk to the entrance door, they are startled with a loud sound of crashing just in front of them. It is a sound of a person falling from the high building, crashing with the roof of the entrance door. When they turn to look, there is a body of a familiar girl lying on the ground, lifeless.

Screeching sound of screams can be heard then. Therefore, Hanbin quickly goes to the lying girl and checks her breathing and impulse while Hayi is trying to block the public from surrounding the scene.

"She must have jumped," a scared voice with a sob is heard among the crowds.

"What happened???"

Realizing that she is already died, Hanbin looks up to the tall building but he turns around with his round eyes as soon as he hears someone claiming, "Oh! It's Lee Chaerin!!"

"Really???"

"It's Lee Chaerin?"

Hanbin looks at the dead girl back and can't help feeling anxiety in his heart. 

Lee Chaerin is a top star in Korean Entertainment, in a popular group 2NE1, and he still remembers watching her on TV few days ago, singing and rapping like a queen, but now, in front of him, ironically, she is lying on the ground lifelessly, with bloods drawing out from her pale lips and dark bloods pooling around her head.

He slowly stands up before his phone rings. With a heavy heart, he picks up the call and Junhoe's voice echoes from the other line, "The owner of 1101 in Palace Tower is Lee Chaerin. The IP address HADES was using is from 1101 Palace Tower-" and he hangs up the call without Junhoe gets to finish informing him.

"No wonder I feel something is fishy when I read her Twitter post just now. She said she wants to die.."

"Yeah, it's true. Did she commit suicide?"

"Oh God! Why? Chaerin-shi..."

Hanbin sighs hearing the wails from the people.

 

The next day, Hayi captures few photos of Chaerin's belongings in her house; a black cap, with sunglasses before a tall detective from another department greets her with thick Busan dialect, "Are you the police station's beauty, Lee Hayi?"

She looks at the detective with a light sigh and purses her lips into a thin line.

"Just like the rumors, you're really pretty!" He keeps complimenting her with a wide smile on his face, totally admiring her and tries his best to control his satoori, instead he attempts to speak in Seoul dialect, "They say the criminals handcuff themselves when they see you!"

She sighs, "That never happened," and turns to other direction to take photos of other stuff which can be evidences of the case, while praying so that the police officer will just leave her.

Then, Hanbin comes out of nowhere, grabbing Seunghoon's wrist who is about to touch her hand.

"Digital evidence can change by the slightest touch," he mutters with a stern look on his face and looks at the detective's nametag, "Mr. Lee Seunghoon..." And he pushes away Seunghoon's wrist before approaching Hayi.

Seunghoon snorts at him and just persuading himself that he has to let it slide. After all, Hanbin has a higher position than him.

"Tell your team leader that we get the approval from the superior authority to take care of this case. We are going to take all of the digital evidences-" but a husky voice interrupts Hanbin's words toward Seunghoon.

"And why the fuck that you get the approval? For what?"

Hanbin tilts his head and forms a small smile when a well-built body, handsome man in his mid-twenty, wearing a black casual shirt, emerges from the wall, with his furrowing eyebrows directed toward Hanbin.

"For your information, Song Minho-shi, this case is related to our HADES's case. But don't worry, hyung, once we find any evidence related to Lee Chaerin, we will hand them over to you," Hanbin answers with a light smile.

Minho scoffs, "I don't believe you. My team will hand them to the head office by ourselves. So, you and your rubbish team can just get lost now."

Hayi frowns a bit hearing the insult from the team leader of crime department while Hanbin notices it, so he holds his head up high, replying to Minho, "One stray keystroke can delete the log records."

Minho snickers, "Log records? What kind of bullshit are you talking about?" He looks at Hanbin with an intimidating gaze, "One finger print is more important than 100 pieces of computer record, do you understand?"

Hanbin's lips curves into an intimidating gaze toward the older, "Minho hyung, you really can't believe anyone, right?"

Minho snorts, "What?"

Hanbin walks toward him, his gaze challenging, "I don't believe it either. People fill their whole lives with lies," and once he is standing in front of the other, he mutters confidently, causing Minho to bite his lower lip in insecurities, "Pretending to be kind, pretending to be polite, pretending they don't like someone when they do, acting cool when they are far from truly being cool."

Minho scowls, cannot take it anymore, "Yah, rascal!"

Hanbin lightly smirks while stepping toward a laptop on a huge table there, "Do you know where people like that truly become honest?"

Hayi beams proudly as Hanbin sits in front of the laptop as he utters, "It's exactly to their computers. They are able to secretly view the blogs of the people they like, they are able to curse and criticize in anonymity," he looks up to give a short glance at the fuming team leader, "Even a polite college dean can secretly enjoy watching young coeds in bikinis," he smiles, "The computer is where they can do this."

Minho makes a boring face, "Are you trying to lecture me right now?"

Hanbin answers calmly, "It's the truth in reality, not a theory, hyung. This is an important evidence that will show us what the dead was thinking prior to death," with a smirk escaping his lips again, "Unless you want to lose this evidence, please pass it into my hands. Do you now understand? This so-called nonsense?"

Minho sighs heavily as he backs off, "You are one piece of annoying shit, Kim Hanbin. I fucking hate you," before leaving the room with Seunghoon trailing him from behind.

Hanbin smiles before focusing back on his work. He looks at Hayi and asks, "Did you check the data which is easy to disappear?"

She shakes her head, "No, we couldn't do that yet."

 

Hayi closes the van's door after placing all of the digital evidences inside and walks toward Hanbin who is staring toward the building of Palace Tower. 

 _He is lost in his own thoughts again,_ she smiles at herself before throwing a question to her team leader, "What are you thinking about?"

He peers at her with a warm smile, unlike his cold personality like before and replies, "It's not like HADES. All the people HADES hacked until now were police or government offices," he turns to face her, "Just why would he suddenly hack a female idol?"

She nods instantly, "I'm also curious about that. But don't worry, Hanbin-shi. Once we catch them, the truth will come out naturally."

He can't help forming a soft smile at her and sends a pat on her shoulder before saying, "I will go first. Come after you finish, okay?" And he leaves her.

She also smiles, "Got it."

At the parking lot, she walks while humming to herself some fun songs before she notices a man with a spectacles, peeking on her car while writing something on his notebook. She sighs and quietly approaches him, before attacking him from behind.

She headlocks the other, until the latter cannot breath properly. He keeps on clutching onto her arms while desperately begging, "L-let me go! H-hey, I'm a reporter!" 

With his remaining energy, he takes out a card from his jeans pocket before handing it to her.

_Kim Jiwon. True Story Online News._

She scrutinizes it after letting him go.

He rubs on his aching neck, whimpering painfully before she shifts her attention toward him, "Reporter?"

He whimpers in pain while still trying to lessen the pain from her unexpected attack just now. He wonders if she is really a girl. Her headlock is totally no joke at all, "That's what I'm saying. Can't you tell? Haishhh, you almost killed me~" with a cute pout on his face.

She amusedly smiles and takes his notebook, mercilessly ripping off the pages that he jotted down something from before with a victory smirk escaping her pink lips. He makes a sad face as he retaliates, "I wasn't trying to do anything wrong~"

But she immediately responds, "Taking someone's number without permission is doing something wrong, Mister..."

She walks nearing her car and frowns as she spots that another car, a black Sedan, parks dangerously close to her own car. The reporter guy leans his back on her car and asks despite his still aching shoulder and neck, "Well, enough about that. You're coming out from Lee Chaerin investigation site, right?"

He smiles until his small eyes disappear, and Hayi can't deny that he looks effortlessly cute. Maybe the cutest person she has ever seen.

"I can't say anything until the official statement is made," she replies politely and sighs again as she looks at the cars, "Geez, who the heck parked like this?"

Jiwon stealthily leaves while she goes to see the contact number of the black car's owner and dials the number. Out of her expectation, she hears a loud ringtone coming from Jiwon's phone.

Acting clueless, he picks up the call, "Yes, hello?"

She sighs yet again with his ruthless behaviour and knocks his head with her phone before he groans in pain.

"Aish, are you really a girl?" He rubs his head and whines, "This is violence! I have to report-"

"Pull your car out now!" 

He chuckles seeing her angry face,  _She is so cute when angry. Makes me want to tease her even more. That chubby cheeks~_

"Alright, but," he acts as if he is in severe pain, "Ahhhh, my shoulder.. My arms.. You were too rough before when you headlocked me.." He tilts his shoulder as if he can't lift up his shoulder, "I.. I can't lift it up... Ahhh, so in pain.. Aigoo-yaaa..."

She snorts with his antic before poking his so-called aching shoulder, "Give me your car key, then.."

Right away, she drives his car forward and backward until there's more spaces enough for her to pull her car out later. He watches in awe at how skillful she is and giggles with a clap when she is about to get out of the car, "Woahhhh, bravo bravo..."

He steps toward his car and stares at her inquiringly, "I guess, being a police officer does make a difference.. But, how..." She opens his car's door but it stucks against the wall, "Will you get out?" He finishes his question as soon as she realizes the problem now.

She purses her lips into a thin line, feeling her cheeks reddened in embarassment before closing the door back. He chuckles softly seeing her red cheeks and his chuckles get even louder when her head bumps with the car's rear view mirror.

She whimpers in a slight pain and gets annoyed with his giggles. Coming out of the car from the opposite door, she proceeds to her own car shyly before he dashes toward her again, "Tell me, please. Just a word or two."

She opens her car's door and shakes her head, "I told you I can't say anything."

When she is about to close the door, he mutters again, "The twitter post Lee Chaerin wrote before she died.." Jiwon gives an unknown look toward her, "Did she really write it herself? There is word that it isn't true."

She looks up at him with a confused look and he smiles, showing off his bunny teeth and squinty eyes. He fakes a laugh, "Well, if we make up a story..."

With that lame remark, she closes the door and drives away, leaving him at the parking lot. He watches with a deep sigh, his smile gradually fading away before it turns into a dull look.

 

* * *

 

 

Sorry, it took me too long to update huhu. But I hope this worth your wait. Thank you for reading & do leave a comment. :)

<3


	2. Chapter 2

Jiwon enters a small office before a tall girl with a long hair and small eyes rushes toward him, "Director, where have you been? Do you know that Lee Chaerin died? It's a hot mess right now! Shouldn't we be going around getting a list of things too?"

She trails beside him who walks with an amused smile carves on his lips while she keeps on babbling, "Revealing a true story, right? That's how we can be reborn as a true newspaper company.. And we will hire some reporters and move to a nice building... Together."

Jiwon stops and she anxiously waits for some words from him. He flashes his bunny smile and says, "Do you want to move to a nice building.. Together?"

She flusters but remains her calm, "Well, yeah, what I mean is, this office is too small for us, not that I'm complaining, but it will be more comfortable if we can get a bigger and comfortable office to do our work. And if we get popular, we can hire reporters so that our burden will be lessen. You don't have to do a lot of works anymore-"

Jiwon ruffles her hair with a light smile escaping his plump lips, "But I'm satisfied and feel it's enough with just the both of us working together," her heart is beating very fast, feeling his touch on her hair and when he leans closer to her, placing his hand on her shoulder, she feels like she will melt down already.

"I don't want anyone else. I just want us," he mutters with a soft smile.

To be honest, she can feel her heart is fluttering hearing it from him. But knowing his easy-going and cheerful personality, she only feel heart-broken more.

"You know, if you keep on saying cringy stuff like that, I will really leave this place. I think it's better if I go for YG audition and becomes a singer-"

While walking with her toward a room, his hand still on her shoulder, his head tilted toward her as he interrupted her words, "Suhyun-ahh.."

"What?" She asks, with an annoyed tone, causing him to giggle.

"I told you not to be a singer," his voice is somehow stern, "Your melodious voice is supposed to be listened by me only."

She sighs, "You are at it again..."

When they arrives in front of his room, he chuckles as he straightens his body and shakes his head, "Why can't you fall for me?"

"I'm not an easy woman," she rolls her tongue at him and he pouts, "You are not even a woman yet, to begin with." 

She widens her eyes and he rolls his tongue back at her. When she turns to other direction, his hand secretly pressing the passcode to that room. When it is unlocked, he forms a small smile at her, "Okay then. If you have anything, just call me okay?"

She nods. It's always been like that. After bickering with him, he would then enter his secret room and lock himself in it for all day long.

When she says it's a secret room, she really means it. Because he never lets anyone come inside that room.

He opens the door a little and enters before waving her goodbye.

When the door closes, she sighes. With a curious mind, she leans closer to the door and tries to peek but as expected, she hears nothing. For sure, it is a soundproof room.

"What the hell is he doing in there everyday?"

Meanwhile, Jiwon walks into the room filled with computers, photos hanging on the wall, notes, and when he sits on the chair, he removes his spectacles, putting it on the table. Instantly, his smiley face is long gone.

His eyes are serious as he looks at the computer screen and sighs when he thought about his meeting with Hayi.  _Hope she is smart enough to notice that I'm not joking when I said Chaerin is killed._

 

 

* * *

 

 

At the police office.

"Hey, isn't this Lee Chaerin's laptop?" A handsome detective approaches Lee Hayi who is working on the laptop, she takes out the drive from the laptop and copies it to their own computer.

"Well, yes, Yunhyeong," she answers while waiting for the disk to be copied completely.

"This is no different than Lee Chaerin's brain," another cute detective who is standing next to Hayi from the beginning says with an inquiring gaze toward the drive.

"Wow, that's awesome! It's worthy joining Cyber Team," Yunhyeong mutters excitedly before placing his arm over the other detective's shoulder and asks, "Hey, Donghyukie, do you read the newspaper today? It says Minzy is sick."

Donghyuk widens his eyes, automatically looking up to see his co-worker while Hayi shakes his head with the two males' conversation about the singer who is in the same group as Lee Chaerin, in other word, she is Donghyuk's muse, or in the most accurate way of defining it, Donghyuk is her diehard fanboy.

"Why is my cutie Minzy sick? Is it because of this case?" Donghyuk asks, worry clearly written on his face.

"I think so, but-"

"Okay, now that the drive is completely copied, shall we take a look into Lee Chaerin's mind?" Hayi says, interrupting the two, before they shift their attention toward her back, quickly getting interested in the topic.

She clicks on the screen and it shows Lee Chaerin's desktop screen. She forms a small smile, "Her desktop is very clean. She must've had a neat personality," she navigates around the desktop while saying, "Web browser, Word, music player, video download-"

"Well, what about searches she's recently done since about a week before her death?" Yunhyeong suggests with a flirty wink at her.

She flashes a soft smile at him before Donghyuk asks, his eyebrows furrowing, "Why would you want to know about her recent searches?"

Yunhyeong shrugs before answering, "Well.. I'm just... I'm curious. I really want to know what people think about the most before they die. What did she think about before she died?"

Donghyuk nods understandingly before thinking deeply, "Well, in the case of suicide.." He states with a small smile at Hayi who is clicking on her resent searches on internet, "Potassium cyanide, suicide.. Things like that are most likely to come up, isn't it?"

But all of them sighed lightly as they read on the results.

_Stress gastritis vomiting pharmacy_

"Aigoo, I feel pity for her, like seriously," Yunhyeong murmurs before mumbling, "She must be really stressed out. Being a public figure is damn hard, I guess."

Donghyuk also looks bitter, "I wonder if Minzy is really fine."

Yunhyeong slaps his friend's shoulder, "All you think about is her, right? You are really lovesick~"

Donghyuk can feel his cheeks blushed hard, so Yunhyeong laughs at him before 'attacking' the other again. Unlike the immature officers, Hayi keeps on looking at the results and wonders to herself,  _What is the thing that makes her get stressed too much that leads her to kill herself?_

But then, ignoring Donghyuk and Yunhyeong's bickering, she suddenly remembers Jiwon's word toward her few days ago, _The twitter post Lee Chaerin wrote before she died.. Did she really write it herself? There is word that it isn't true._

Therefore, she quickly says, "The Twitter message she posted before she died," yet again stopping the childish bickering between the two men, "Let's check that."

 

"What do you mean?" Hanbin asks as he closes the report regarding the last murder case before looking up to face Hayi who is standing in front of his table.

"Lee Chaerin's last twitter post, it's not posted from her laptop," she tells him with a serious gaze toward him.

"Are you sure?"

She nods, "She accessed Twitter from her laptop, but there's no record of her posting a message."

His eyebrows begin to slant down, "Then, how about her smartphone? Have you checked it out?"

"I asked Detective Seunghoon-"

Hanbin immediately cuts her, his face somehow doesn't look good, as if he is angry, "Seunghoon? Why would you ask him?"

She is shocked to hear his question but she still remains her calm and answers, "Because he is in charge of it," and Hanbin feels so embarassed for unknowingly get jealous over nothing before she continues, "And yes, he said the smartphone broke, like two days ago, so it was getting fixed at that time."

 

"What kind of bullshit is that? Her Twitter post was fake?" Mino growls from the other line.

"That's not it. The Twitter ID was hers and there wasn't any sight of it being hacked. It seems like she used another device to post to Twitter," Hanbin answers as he looks into the laptop while being observed by other detectives; Hayi, Yunhyeong and Donghyuk, "Was there other smartphone or a tablet at the scene of the incident?"

"I'll look into it," Mino replies and hastily hangs up.

"T-" Hanbin sighs and Hayi shakes her head with a glum look toward him, "I told you he is going to ignore us. That's why I said just ask Seunghoon."

Yunhyeong places his arm over his shoulder, patting his shoulder a bit, trying to calm the team leader, "Hanbinnie, shouldn't we look into what was uploaded to Twitter post?"

He smiles a bit and says, "If she posted on Twitter, not using her smartphone, but other digital device and if someone removed that device-"

"Then, that's mean someone was with her when she died?" Donghyuk utters with a snicker, "Does that make sense?"

Hanbin sighs before turning his head to look at her, "Hayi, look up the IP address of the device that she used for that tweet."

Hayi nods, "Alright," he smiles a little and takes his jacket before announcing to everyone, "I'm going to go to the scene of the incident."

 

"Have you finished checking the CCTV recordings and access records?" Mino asks Seunghoon who is busy answering the numerous phonecalls from the public regarding Chaerin's case.

"Errr, that..." He stutters out and Mino snaps at him, "You are really wasting your time answering all these stupid prank calls," Seunghoon looks down, feeling sorry and Mino feels bad for scolding him, so he just drapes his arm over the other's shoulder, "Nevermind. Were there any other devices such as tablet or something at the scene?"

Seunghoon shakes his head, "No, there wasn't any."

"Go over and check again," Mino orders him before Seunghoon takes his stuff and leaves the office.

Mino ruffles his hair out of frustration before the phone rings. He sighs heavily before answering, "Yes, this is Violent Crime Department."

"I called because of Lee Chaerin's case. She didn't commit suicide. She was murdered. There's evidence," the deep and husky voice from the other line mutters and Mino snickers, "Hey, listen. If you continue to call again with this kind of sick joke, I'll not hesitate to put you in jail for it. Hear that?" And he hangs up the call with a fury mind.

Meanwhile, the person who called, turns out to be Jiwon. He is wearing a blue jacket with a black  _Been Trill_ cap and brown laptop bag over his shoulder, regretfully placing down the public phone.

He sighs with a frustrated scream in his heart,  _Why can't anyone believe me?_

Not long after that, Seunghoon comes back to the office and pokes Mino's shoulder while the latter is busy listening to some hiphop musics in order to calm his mind. Seunghoon knows how much Minho is stressed out with this case, so he just wants to play around with his leader. To ease his mood.

"You freaks me out, hyung," he says softly with a cute pout, out of his tough and hot-tempered character in front of Hanbin.

Seunghoon smiles. This is the real Song Minho that he knows; cute, warm-hearted and mostly, handsome.

"I'm sorry, but I need you to see something," he says before Mino opens his eyes, "See what?"

"Follow me, kid," he drags Minho into a computer room while talking, "The apartment Lee Chaerin stayed is the most prestigious one in Gangnam. So to protect the privacy of the residents, there weren't any CCTVs in hallways nor staircases. But inside elevator, lobby, parking lot and parking lot outside the building, I have checked all CCTVs," and when they arrive, he shows the screen computers, "And this is what I discovered."

Seunghoon clicks on the mouse and the screen shows the elevator, "There. The elevator. It is the 11th floor, where Lee Chaerin lived."

And then, after watching it, Minho's boring eyes turn round and round. Seunghoon smiles proudly.

There was Jiwon entering the elevator there.

 

"Her WiFi wasn't secured with a password, so anyone within 50 metres can use this internet IP," Hanbin informs Hayi after calling her as soon as he finds out while rummaging through her apartment room.

A small smile creeps on her lips, "Oh, so if someone knew her Twitter password, a different person could have posted it, right?"

Hanbin looks at her WiFi modem and says in a low tone, "Then, someone intended to kill her. She.. She could have been murdered..."

Hayi smiles a small one as she remembers Jiwon.  _So, he is not just joking around. He doesn't lie about it._

She begins to think about the so-called reporter,  _But who is he actually? Is he really a reporter?_  

"If she was murdered, HADES, who hacked her laptop, will be the prime suspect. So, did you find out the route to access?" Hanbin asks, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Detective Yunhyeong is in charge of it. I will ask him to find it as fast as possible," she immediately replies, her cheeks turn faint red as she realizes she is thinking about someone who is almost impossible for her to meet again.

"Okay, then," Hanbin flashes a warm smile hearing her stern voice. He likes it, she is a tough and fierce woman.

They hang up the phonecall before Hanbin came out of the apartment room. But when he arrives at the lobby, he scrunches up his eyebrows as there is a chaos in front of the waiting space where there is a TV at the centre.

He curiously comes closer to the crowd and looks at the TV screen before his mouth gapes open in a flash.

There is a video, to be more exact, a webcam video showing Chaerin with a dumbfounded look staring at the direction in front of her before she was thrown by a man through the window in her apartment room.

And then, the TV screen turns into a black-grey colour, before a capital 'H' appears, HADES signature whenever he hacks any computer, showing that it's HADES who hacked the TV screen.

Hanbin grits his teeth, fuming with anger at the hacker HADES, for once again causing a chaos. It's as if he is trying to provoke the cops.

With a raging heart, he runs around the lobby, trying to find the hacker who might still be in the apartment area now. When he is at the apartment cafe, he spots someone suspicious with a cap covering half of his face, closing his laptop before keeping it in his brown laptop bag.

_To hack within this apartment, he must be here. And he must have a laptop to hack. Can it be him?_

He slowly approaches the suspicious man who stands up and leaves the apartment cafe, with a small grin carves on his lips. It is even more suspicious, Hanbin thinks to himself.

When they are at the parking lot where no one is around, Hanbin doesn't wait anymore and calls out, to test whether he is HADES or not, "HADES..."

Automatically, the said male stops his track in front of Hanbin. The cop smiles satisfiedly and points his pistol at the other's neck, "I'm the police. Turn around slowly."

Calmly, he turns around as Hanbin wants. 

And Hanbin can't help gasping while HADES forms an amused smile at him as the both of them in fact recognize each other.

"Kim... Jiwon..?"


	3. Chapter 3

"What happened? Are all staffs in charge present?" Yang Hyunsuk, the Director of Crime Investigation Department asks when everyone takes their seats in the meeting room.

"How exactly are you going to explain this situation?" He asks again with his sharp stare toward Mino and Seunghoon who are bowing to him now.

"I will explain it," Mino starts, "I am Chief Song Minho in charge of this case," he inhales shortly and says, "This case is most likely a murder, not a suicide."

"Is it because of the video that was posted on that hotel's TV?" The Director asks again.

He quickly shakes his head, "No. We found the prime suspect of Lee Chaerin case."

The other police officer, Sean, furrows his eyebrows, "Suspect? What do you mean?"

"The suspect's name is Kim Jiwon. 27 years old. The representative of internet newspaper, True Story," he says while the screen beside him showed Jiwon's profile with his face. "One unusual thing about him is that, he once attended Police Academy, but he quit in the middle. And he used to be colleagues with Investigator Kim Hanbin."

Mino is so excited he smiles before adding, "They used to stay together as roommates. And they are also friends since childhood. Bestfriends, to be more exact."

 

* * *

 

 

"It was you?" Hanbin asks, still in disbelief while Jiwon snickers, still finds it amazing to meet back face-to-face with his long-time-no-see friend, Kim Hanbin.

"Has it been 10 years or so?" Jiwon looks at Hanbin with a bitter smile, "Is it nice being a team leader for Cyber Crime Investigators?"

Hanbin swallows his saliva down hardly, reluctantly ignoring his mocking question, "You.. Are really HADES?"

He nods with a cocky expression on his face, "Well, yeah.. I'm that HADES."

Hanbin feels so angry. For all this time, all the energy, frustration, pent-up emotion and whatnot, are poured just to find out that wicked hacker, but turn out he is his own bestfriend- his used-to-be bestfriend, Kim Jiwon.

He angrily pins the other to the wall, "Why did you kill Lee Chaerin??"

Jiwon snorts, "I killed Lee Chaerin?"

Hanbin grabs the hacker's collar, "You're the one who hacked into her laptop! You hacked into her network and posted a fake Twitter message. You made it look like a suicide and then killed her, didn't you?" 

Jiwon pushes Hanbin's grabbing hand away and sighs, "I admit to the hacking but I didn't kill her," he looks into Hanbin's eyes, wanting the other to see his sincerity, "There is a real suspect that killed her. I'm just looking for that evidence."

"What evidence?" Hanbin asks, as if Jiwon is saying an absurd thing now.

Jiwon sighs again, feeling sad that Hanbin seems like he doesn't believe him.

"At that time, when I hacked her laptop, I saw it. The video I posted at the TV. That guy. That suspect who killed her," Jiwon tries to sound urgent so that Hanbin will really believe him this time, "I didn't see that person's face, but looks like she knew that guy. Suddenly, in the midst of them talking, he thrown her out the window."

Hanbin eyes him suspiciously.

"After I saw it, I immediately went to her room, but it was locked. The suspect had already left by elevator and escaped," Jiwon tries to explain again.

"How did you know he escaped?"

"Because when I found out that the door was locked, I heard the elevator's door opened!" Jiwon feels so frustrated that Hanbin is suspecting him like this.

"Why should I believe you?" Hanbin asks again, clearly he still couldn't believe Jiwon.

The hacker snorts, "Has your head turned into a rock after being in the force for too long?" Hanbin looked at him with a menacing glare, "If I killed her, why would I post that video?"

Hanbin sighs as he acknowledged what Jiwon said can be right.. And can be wrong too.

"Whether your words are the truth or not, you are still a suspected criminal," he moves closer to the other, "I.. I'm arresting you," he tries to grab Jiwon's hand, but the latter pushes him away, "No.. At least, not yet, Hanbin-ahh.."

Hanbin grits his teeth frustratedly and Jiwon is determined, "I have something I must find. No matter what."

"Find what?"

"Before she died, she didn't post the message on her Twitter account. She was writing an email to someone," Jiwon says as he leans his back against the wall there, "But Lee Chaerin was killed before she finished writing that email. And that bastard that killed her deleted that email," he explains with an angry heart, "I.. I must find that asshole that fucking killed her!"

Hanbin looks at him, his eyebrows furrowed with a curious mind, "Why did you hack her anyway? Most importantly.. Why are you so worked up to find the so-called killer?" He tried to read Jiwon's mind, he always good in it back then, "Wh.. Who is she to you? What is your relationship with her?"

Seeing how Jiwon's eyebrows flattered slightly, Hanbin knows there was something between Jiwon and Lee Chaerin. The hacker scratches his neck shyly, "I.. I get caught, isn't it?"

Hanbin can't help it. He forms a warm smile at the sight of blushing Jiwon, "Yes, you got caught. By me. As always."

Jiwon smiles, "Well... Chaerin Noona.. She was our senior during high school, isn't it?"

Hanbin's eyes widen as realization strucked him, "Ahhh... That..." Hanbin inquiringly eyes him, "Did you date her?"

Jiwon weakly nods.

"But that doesn't explain why would you hack her laptop," he keeps looking at the hacker's eyes, "Unless you are a jealous little freak that want to know his girlfriend's activities on laptop, because you are afraid she was cheating on you.. Isn't it?"

Jiwon flashes his bunny smile, but that smile is reluctant, "Why are you so good in reading me? You should have quit this fucking job and become a psychic instead with this special ability of yours."

Hanbin lightly smiles again and jokes, "Psychic doesn't offer much money."

Jiwon scoffs, "You are already a rich kid, though. Your father is one of the richest man in South Korea. What else do you want?"

Hanbin sighs, "Stop bringing that up."

Jiwon smirks bitterly. He knows too well how much Hanbin hates that topic, "Sorry."

"Tell me.. How did you date her? Are you really a jealous ass?"

Jiwon looks to the other direction, "I.. Well.. We dated each other since three years ago. Even before she debuted. But long story cut short, these few months, I noticed that we often had reluctant conversations and she didn't look at me the same anymore. That's why, I decided to hack into her laptop. To find out what was bothering her.. Or was it just me or... Maybe, yeah, like you said, I am a jealous ass.." He stops talking and Hanbin presses his lips into a thin line before Jiwon continues, "And that's when I saw she was thrown out of the window. By another man."

Hanbin is puzzled. Like seriously.

He never would have thought Jiwon would date someone like Chaerin. An idol.

Like, how in the world? And no one knows about their relationship? There are just too much questions in Hanbin's mind, but he doesn't dare to ask.

But still, she's dead. He feels bad for him.

Then, it turns into a brief silence as the two long-lost bestfriends stare at each other longingly while reminiscing their sweet and joyful youth which filled with happiness and good laughs. It was such a splendid old days. They didn't realize how much they longed to spend time with each other and how much they missed the old days before meeting again like this.

Breaking the silence, Hanbin mutters, "Now that I remember it, you used to say you like a strong and tough girl with a high confidence of herself. That's definitely fits Chaerin's character as I know."

Jiwon can feel his cheeks turn rosy again, but he maintains a smile while Hanbin giggles in awe. "You also know I rarely watch entertainment, but I never missed news about her. In addition, one of my co-workers is a fanboy of one member of her group, so I can't help but to watch it too. She is definitely your type."

Jiwon looks at Hanbin, "How about you? Still single?"

This time, it is Hanbin's turn to get his cheeks reddened. 

"What the heck? You are still single? Even after all these years?" Jiwon laughs loudly in a unique way.

Hanbin frowns, "Yeah, just laugh all you want. I'm not a ladies man, let alone a playboy like you."

Jiwon glares at him jokingly and Hanbin chuckles.

"It's better to be a ladies man than a love loser like you. You can't even confess to that girl back then and just watched in vain when she chose your own bestfriend," Jiwon says mockingly.

 

He finally nods, admitting it, "Okay, yeah, I'm that loser. That unbeatable single man.."

"For 27 years already?" Jiwon teases him with his cute laugh and Hanbin really wants to smack his head.

But he doesn't. 

Instead, he pulls the other into his arms with a longing smile, "Yah, you punk! Do you know how worried and lonely I was during those 10 years without you by my side?" He punches Jiwon's back, "Why did you just.. Leave me out of the blue.. Without any words nor message?"

Jiwon swallows his saliva hard hearing Hanbin's weak voice. The cop nuzzles his face into the crook of Jiwon's neck and the hacker feels even worse when Hanbin murmures, "And why did you become a hacker? Why... Do you want to be someone that I have to chase after?"

Jiwon holds in the tears that are threateningly wanting to drip down from his half-lidded eyes before softly freeing himself from Hanbin and forces out a smile, "You are making me feel weird."

Hanbin stares at Jiwon's face again and sighs, "You still didn't answer any of my questions."

Jiwon chuckles awkwardly, "Am I being interrogated? I have been answering your questions since 5 minutes ago."

"Then, let's just follow me to the police office-" Jiwon backs away when Hanbin tries to hold his hand.

"I don't want to follow you. I want to leave."

Hanbin's eyes roll with insecurities, "W-wait! What do you mean you are leaving?"

"Do you think I am a stupid fellow? You are a cop and I am a.. Criminal, you say.. How can I stick with you anymore?" Jiwon gives a cold stare at Hanbin, making the other feels intimidated already, "And the way I see it.. I don't think you believe me.. Not even a bit, I must say..."

"It's not that I don't believe you.. But I think it's best if you tell everything that you know to the police-"

Jiwon scoffs, "You don't believe me, just admit it," he shakes his head in disbelief, "And you expect me to trust the police?" He snorts, "Bullshit."

"Jiwon-ahh..."

"I'm not a criminal, Hanbin. I just have a different standard of justice with you."

Hanbin turns speechless and he tries to find something to say as a reply, but fails. Jiwon goes into his own car and slams the door close. By the time the cop looks up again when he hears engine sound, Jiwon is already gone, his car disappears into the darkness of that night.

Hanbin sighs heavily. He goes into his car and sits, leaning his back against the comfy seat and tries his best to think of everything Jiwon said. Can he believe him? 

He smiles slightly,  _Of course I can... He is my bestfriend... Isn't it?_

At least, he is sure now that Jiwon is not the murderer. Yes, he truly believes Jiwon.

He sighs when he thinks about it again.

He is well-known with his cold attitude, but truthfully, it's all because of Jiwon. Before Jiwon left him, he was also as playful as Jiwon.  He never loses his smile whenever he spent time with Jiwon.

It was a fact that Jiwon always able to put a smile on Hanbin's lips. And makes him laugh.

But once Jiwon was not there anymore, he loses all happiness and he carries on the life in his cold nature, all the wills to be happy are gone.

But then, his phone suddenly rings out of sudden. When he reads the caller's name, he feels a bit calmer.

"Yes, Hayi?"

"Team Leader, the prime suspect for Lee Chaerin's case has been revealed. It's someone you know," Hayi's voice echoes from another line and somehow, her voice is shaking.

Hanbin can feel his smile gradually turns dimmer as soon as he hears what she says afterward.

"He was your fellow colleague. Kim Jiwon, you know him, right?"

 

* * *

 

 

_"Tonight, on the TV at the lobby of the apartment lived by the deceased Lee Chaerin, the video of murder moment of Lee Chaerin was revealed, giving a great shock to the people in that hotel. A public managed to record the video and posted it to his social account before it becomes viral, not only on Korea but worldwide."_

_"The police is pursuing the hacker Hades as a prime suspect, and also focusing their investigation regarding to the authenticity of the video-"_

Hanbin shust down the TV that showed the news regarding the case and sighs heavily as he leans back on the chair in his office.

He closes his eyes and feels so betrayed when he remembers everything that Jiwon told him. He really believes Jiwon and almost decided by himself to help Jiwon find the so-called killer. Only for Jiwon.

But now, everything is clear.

Jiwon is really the murderer of Chaerin. Though it is still not confirmed.

He thinks so hard about it that he feels a sudden headache soaring in his brain. He clutches his head, trying to massage it gently and grunts a  _Why, Jiwon?_

He is more devastated that Jiwon was lying to him.

In their 12 years of friendship, there have never been lies. The both of them are what people called friends by hearts. 

Their chemistry with each other were no joke. They knew each other's secret. They played well with each other. They could click well with each other.

But everything was ruined when Jiwon quit the Police Academy just out of the blue, leaving Hanbin dumbfounded. He went missing for years as well. No information about him at all. He also changed his contact number, making Hanbin lose any hope to find him back.

Hanbin can feel tears pooled in his eyes as he remembers how difficult it was to live without Jiwon. 

It was like he lost his another half.

"Team Leader!" Hayi suddenly calls, bringing Hanbin back to the reality.

Hanbin immediately opens his eyes and a tear drops, so he hastily wipes it off, before Hayi tells him, not noticing the tear, "I got a call from the evidence analysis lab. There has been an important evidence from what Hades has posted."

 

"The video itself didn't have any mark being fabricated. So, Lee Chaerin has been murdered," the officer from the evidence analysis lab, Namjoon says to Hanbin and Hayi who are watching from behind, fully focused on the video Hades posted.

"Re-run it," he orders his fellow co-worker, Eunji and he adds when Chaerin looks up to see someone in the video, "You can see where she looks before she gets up. Look at the window, right side of her."

Hanbin squints his eyes to focus. Deep in his mind, he really hopes it's not Jiwon. He keeps on praying deep in his heart.

Hayi leans closer to the computer screen and when Eunji pauses the video, Hanbin also takes a closer look and spots a blurry shadow of a figure standing from the reflection of the window, "Is it this person?"

"Can you get the quality better?" Hayi impatiently asks, her heart is shaking in anxiety.

Apparently, she is also hoping it's not Jiwon.

"Put up the quality a bit more, please," Hanbin demands before Eunji zooms in to the figure.

"We can't see the face. This is the highest quality I can go. But there's a way to make sure," she starts clicking on the image, "After making the shadow on the glass maximum clear, connect the outline and compare it," she drags the image from the video to Jiwon's profile photo and the apps analyzes them, before it states _100% match_.

Hayi bits her lower lip,  _So, it's really him?_

Hanbin is standing flabbergasted there.  _How could you lie to me, Jiwon? Don't tell me you also lied about dating her?_

"The face on the window and Kim Jiwon's face is a 100% match," Namjoon says, with a small smirk on his lips.

 

* * *

 

"I told you, my boss isn't that kind of person!" Suhyun yells to Seunghoon when he and the other cops rummaging through her office with Jiwon.

Seunghoon snorts at her, "Aigoo, kid.. Do all suspects say they are a suspect on their face?"

Then, Mino arrives to the reporters' small office and whines, "Why does it take so long?"

Seunghoon smiles inwardly, "Oh, finally you're here~"

Mino walks toward them and Seunghoon quickly tells him, ignoring Suhyun who pouts with worries written all over her face about Jiwon's condition as of now.

"Well, there is a room that he has but it has a lock on it," he points toward Suhyun's glum face, "And even the worker doesn't know what the passcode is."

She frowns at the side,  _Even if I know, I will never tell you guys!_

Mino sighs lightly, "Where is it?"

Seunghoon gladly leads him to the direction of the secret room. Suhyun follows them suit and she gets anxious when Mino pokes the other cop that tries to break the door using steel, "Move move. I'll do it."

With a sharp inhale, he pushes the door with his body, once, twice and third time, but all of the trials fail. He grits his teeth, feeling all the rage in his body and mind, before he tries again, pushing the door with his well-built body and magically, it is finally opened.

Suhyun's jaw drops seeing it.

Mino enters the room without wasting any time and says, "Turn on the light quick."

When the light is turns on, he looks up and his face glows with amusement. Suhyun also enters the room and she can feel her heart breaking into pieces when she looks around the room.

There are countless photos and newspaper and even magazine articles about Lee Chaerin pasted all over the wall.

Mino snatches one picture of Chaerin in her red tight dress with a provocative make-up, "This is a clear motive. Kim Jiwon... Was Lee Chaerin's stalker."


	4. Chapter 4

 Hanbin stares at his laptop in the office with a soft sigh. On the screen, it shows the fansite page of Lee Chaerin. He doesn't know why but there is something weird in his heart telling him that Jiwon is not the murderer.

He looks at the photo of Lee Chaerin smiling brightly, showing off her dazzling beauty and thinks about Jiwon's so-called confession about the relationship between him and the deceased.

Is it true that they used to date each other, or it is just a story made up by the hacker to fool him?

He sighs and clicks on the browser icon and starts searching about Lee Chaerin. He types  _Lee Chaerin dating_ and there are countless results coming out but none of them are showing Jiwon or HADES. Then, he spots the video of when Lee Chaerin was found dead. And he remembers when Jiwon said she was killed before she got to send the email.

He wonders what kind of email is it? Could it be she was murdered because of that email? 

He got up and went to his pretty co-worker's table, forming a warm smile at the sight of sleeping Hayi. She still looks pretty even when she is sleeping. He caresses her hair softly and can't help chuckling when she murmurs something inaudible in her sleep.

Looking at her uncomfortable sleeping position, he decides to wake her up as he doesn't want her to suffer backache when she wakes up soon. 

"Hayi, wake up," he says softly while hesitantly poking her shoulder.

She jerks a bit and opens her eyes weakly before realizing that Hanbin is the one who woke her up. She immediately rubs her eyes and bows shyly, "I'm sorry, I will cont-"

Hanbin shakes his head with a light smile, "It's okay. I just don't want your back to get ache later. If you are tired, you can just go home already."

She looks at the watch and shakes her head firmly, "No, it's still early. I still have something to finish," she turns on the computer again before looking up at Hanbin who is standing beside her, "Do you need anything?"

He looks at her with a blank smile and shakes his head, "N-no, I... Well, actually, I'm hungry. Have you eaten?"

She can feel her cheeks blushing hearing the unexpected question from him. She shyly shakes her head, "No, I haven't. Why? Do you want to buy me food?" She asks jokingly and he chuckles, "No problem. It's my treat. As you work real hard to solve this case."

At the hanwoo restaurant, Hanbin grills the meat and she waits in front of him. It is a very awkward silence surrounding the two. To be very honest, it is the very first time ever for the two to actually eat together only the two of them, without the others.

She looks around the restaurant, trying to distract herself from the deafening silence. The only sounds they hear is the sounds of the grilling noise and their fast heartbeats.

Clearing his throat, Hanbin breaks the silence, "I don't know why, but it seems weird to me. About Hades."

She lifts up her head to look at him directly as soon as she hears the name Hades. "What about him?"

"We know him well, right? He is too elaborate for us to find any single thread of him, but, why..." He sighs as he is very frustrated, "Why would he show his face and show the video?"

She immediately answers confidently, "Well, among stalkers, many of them are exhibitionists. It might be like his show-off saying  _I killed Lee Chaerin_ _like that_."

Seeing her confidence, he sighs again and smiles before muttering, "This thought just keep bugging me," he inhales shortly, "What.. What if the video was.. Set up?"

"What do you mean? Set up?" Her eyebrows furrow, "Do you think someone is trying to frame him?"

He hesitantly nods to her question before she looks back at the hanwoo. She snickers, "Is it because he is your bestfriend?"

Hanbin looks at the disbelief expression drawn on her face before she mutters, "You have never been this empathy with the criminal we chase after. But once you know he is Jiwon, you look so distracted."

He continues to grill again, taken aback by what she said, "It's not like that. I just... Well, how should I say this?" He sighs heavily, feeling defeated, "Maybe, you are right. I'm like this because it's Jiwon. It's my own bestfriend. And I can't seem to bring myself to believe that he is a murderer."

She hums as a reply, totally understanding his side. It's possible to feel that.

"But, talking about him, I heard he quit police academy just out of the blue. Do you perhaps, know why did he do that?"

He shrugs as he is also clueless with the reason Jiwon took that drastic action to quit. He still wonders why, up to this time. 

"I thought you guys are bestfriends. He didn't tell you even?" Hayi asks again, the curiousity is eating her up, that she feels like she will not be able to sleep, unless she finds out why Jiwon did that.

Trying to change the topic, he picks one of the hanwoos with the chopstick and says, "Open your mouth, Lee Hayi," and brings the hanwoo to her mouth.

She can feel her cheeks blushing at his action. "What are you doing, Hanbin-shii?"

He chuckles sheepishly, "What's with the formality? We are out of workplace, so just be casual around each other."

She can't help smiling shyly before opening her mouth and he feeds her even his fingers are trembling as he is nervous as fuck. 

"Good girl," he says and she giggles with her red face.

"Is this a date, by the way?" Hayi asks, as a joke.

Hanbin peers at her with a smile that showing off his dimple, "Well.. I.. I don't know. What do you think?"

"I will take it as yes, then," she chuckles and Hanbin smiles too as a reply.

"You have really worked hard, Hayi. I'm so proud of you," Hanbin says before feeding her again, "Eat a lot."

 

"I've contacted Kim Jiwon's card company and the phone company to see where he is located, but at the moment, his phone is shut off so we can't locate where he is," Seunghoon tells Mino as soon as he arrived to the station and hands the team leader Jiwon's profile.

Mino opens it and reads, "Kim Jiwon. Has no parents, no siblings and to what that female worker said, he has no other family," he snickers in amusement, "Wow, he is really.. Such a loner. No wonder he becomes a hacker. His life is all around computer."

Seunghoon nods, agreeing with what Mino said. The leader turns toward him, "But that's great. If there is no one to help him, he will anyway come back to the office, isn't it? All of his important stuff are there."

"You're right, dongsaeng," Seunghoon says with a joking smile and Mino smiles too, "There are our men there, right?"

The other nods and Mino follows, "Okay. Nice. Tell them to look out carefully. Oh, and watch out for that female employee too. She seems fishy."

Seunghoon furrows his eyebrows, "Fishy? Why? She looks just normal to me."

Mino grins playfully, "I mean.. She looks like she is in some kind of relationship with him.. Or maybe, she has a feeling for him."

Seunghoon chuckles as understanding washing over him, "Ah, I see. I noticed that too. How hurt she looked when we found out that her boss is a stalker."

"This is very interesting, don't you think so?" Mino utters, "He is Hanbin's bestfriend," Mino acts as if he is thinking, "Can you imagine Hanbin have to arrest his own bestfriend? I can't wait to see his face at that time."

"You are so cruel, Minho-yaa," Seunghoon says jokingly. He gotta admit it, he is also anticipating the outcome, what will happen in the future.

 

Jiwon hides behind a tree near his office and sighs looking at the police cars there. He also spots his co-worker, Suhyun, looking so dull while listening to one of the police officers' talking. He bites his lower lip, feeling bad for her.

He wonders if the cops manage to unlock his room? If they do, then he is doomed. Most importantly, what if Suhyun also sees what he hides in that room for all this time? He ruffles his hair frustratedly thinking about her.

She shakes hand with the police officer, but her face spares no smile. Right at that time, she looks up and unexpectedly, spots Jiwon peeking from the tree there. Her face turns pale and Jiwon is dumbfounded once they lock their eyes.

Even they are quite far from each other, but he is sure her gaze is a broken ones. He quickly hides behind the tree, leaning his back against the tree with his fast heartbeat. He swallows his saliva hard before thinking of what should he do as of now.

What if she tells the police officers about him?

He shakes his head,  _No, impossible. She will not do that to me. ... Right?_

Later, he hears the sounds of police siren leaving and he lets out a soft sigh out of relief. But his feet don't seem to be able to walk away. He is pondering if he should see her but he must be under wanted list now. He doesn't want her to be accused of cooperating with him.

"Oppa?" 

He almost jerks from his spot hearing it. When he calm down, he tilts his head to look at her and can't help feeling bad looking at her disappointed gaze. She looks so lost.

"Where have you been? Are you okay?" She asks softly and he feels even worse.

"I'm sorry," it comes out a reluctant murmur instead and she backs away, "No, don't say sorry. It only makes me doubt you even more."

Jiwon presses his lips into a thin line and lifts up his hand in his attempt to touch her face, but she backs away again.

"It's not you, right?" She asks, in her stuttering tone.

He doesn't know how to explain to her. He is losing for words, especially when her eyes portray  _hope,_ and he is afraid if he is going to shatter that hopeful stare.

Therefore, instead of answering, he pulls her body into him, hugging her tightly, doesn't want to let her go, expressing all of his heart into the warm and desperate hug. She is shocked with the sudden intrusion, she tries to push him away, but of cpurse it only meets with failure.

He is stronger, much stronger than her.

His arms hold onto her body even tighter, wanting to feel her sweet warmth. He closes his eyes, melting down into her and a contented smile is formed on his pale lips once her hand lands on his back, as if welcoming the hug.

He rests his chin on her shoulder with a light smile. 

"Can you let me go now? I'm suffocating here," she says even her heart says the opposite.

He smiles again and looks up at her face. She tries not to look at him, her head tilts to the side before he grabs her chin immediately. Feeling his hot touch, she can feel her body shudders.

Out of her expectation, he crashes their lips together for a passionate kiss and she can feel her legs weaken. She almost falls there, getting weak at the feel of his plump lips against hers.

When she gives him the access he yearns for, he sucks her tongue and it feels so hot, she feels like fainting. She never thought she will come across to this day, when Jiwon will kiss her intimately like this.

She really hopes the time will stop.

When he pulls away, she breathlessly whines and he chuckles. And it hits her.

_Did he do this just to make me come to his side?_

He pulls her into his arms again and tears roll down from his eyes when he rubs her back.

_Is he just playing with my heart... Again?_

"I'm sorry, Suhyun-ahh," he murmurs again before delicately freeing their body from each other.

He pokes her nose with a playful smile, "Take care," before walking away, leaving her alone there.

She frowns and stomps her feet, feeling annoyed.

Rather than getting annoyed, she is more scared with the possibility that this is going to be her last time seeing him.


	5. Chapter 5

_"I have met with Jiwon some days before," Hanbin told Hayi during their 'date'._

_Hayi widened her eyes in shock before asking, "You met him? When?"_

_Hanbin lifted his head up to look at her and smiled, "He told me that Chaerin was writing an email, but the murderer killed her before she could send it and he deleted that email."_

_"What do you mean..?" She asked, a little bit puzzled._

_"It must have something to do with the email. Even it is not for sure yet, but I think the murderer killed her because of that email," he said and Hayi sighed, "Isn't the murderer, Jiwon himself?"_

_Hanbin played with his chopstick and sighed heavily before looking up, "I don't think Jiwon was lying to me."_

_"Hanbin-shii-"_

_"For the whole years I have known him, I have never seen him that desperate to make me believe him. And Kim Jiwon that I know, he can never lie. When he lies, his fingers will tremble and his eyes will be shaking."_

_Hayi bit her lower lip and looked at Hanbin again, "In the end, you decided to believe him. Still." She smiled inwardly._

_He also smiled, "And there is also one more thing that he told me," Hayi focused on him, "That he dated Lee Chaerin."_

_Hayi snorted, "Nonsense!"_

_Hanbin chuckled, "Lee Chaerin was our senior back then. You just can't help but believe him, no matter how I do. He is that kind of casanova, you shouldn't get involved with him," he said in a matter of joke._

_Hayi snorted again, "Why would I get involved with him?"_

_"Just..because," Hanbin dunked a glass of mineral water and smiled at her, "So, in that case, I hope you will help me to seek the truth about this. Let's find out more about this."_

_Hayi nodded, "Alright, I will look through Lee Chaerin's laptop and find."_

_Hanbin beamed and patted her head warmly, "Okay."_

_She felt the shudder at the single touch and her cheeks bloomed in red._

 

Hayi smiles at the memory and looks through the folders in Lee Chaerin's laptop to find any useful evidence or information regarding the murder case. Even she is tired from looking at the computer screen for so long, it doesn't matter. As long as she will find out about the truth.

Yunhyeong walks closer to her to peek on what she has been focusing on since before. He stands behind her and asks, "What are you doing?"

Hayi massages ger neck with a soft sigh before answering without shifting his attention from the computer screen, "I'm looking for something."

"What are you trying to find so hard? You should just rest, Hayi," he says and sends a comforting pat on her shoulder, "Give your neck a break," and he winked playfully at her.

She smiles blandly at him before turning to ask, "By any chance, do you have some headache medicines?"

Yunhyeong furrowes his eyebrows, "I don't have anything like that...?" He pats her head, "So, rest a bit, Lee Hayi."

She forces out a chuckle before Yunhyeong left her. She sighs as she massages her temple and decides to open web browser. She types  _headaches_ in the search box and her eyes caught the related search results like  _headaches during pregnancy_  and _pregnancy headaches._

With a curious mind, she types  _vomitting_ in the search box then and finds  _pregnancy vomits._ She gasps as she remembers the recent searches that Lee Chaerin did on Internet before she died. 

_stress gastritis vomiting pharmacy_

She immediately types  _stress_ to assure herself and yes, she finds  _stress during pregnancy._ She shakes her head in disbelief at her own assumption based on what she found now.

 

"Lee Chaerin.. Was pregnant?" Hanbin asks, his eyes widen in disbelief.

"Yes, the night that Lee Chaerin was murdered, she bought a pregnancy test at a pharmacy near her home," Hayi informs him after coming back from the pharmacy that Lee Chaerin went, "What's important is that she didn't come alone that day."

Hanbin bit his lower lip, afraid of what he would hear next.

"The worker at the pharmacy said she was looking because they came with a very nice car, but she thought they were fighting."

"Is it... Jiwon?" He asks with a nervous mind.

Hayi smiles a bit, "No, I have shown the worker Jiwon's photo, but she said it wasn't him. Even it was not clear that night, but she's sure it wasn't HADES. But still, she can be wrong too."

"Then, that man can be another suspect in this case. That man must be the person that deleted that email," Hanbin says with a quite relieved mind, "Okay, I got it. Thank you, Lee Hayi. You have worked hard."

She smiles bitterly, looking at how happy Hanbin looks and dismisses herself from his office. She sighs as she still thinks it's Jiwon. As she remembered when Hanbin told her about Jiwon dating Lee Chaerin. 

Could it be Jiwon kill her because she is pregnant with his child, she tries to think about it.

Not long after that, Hanbin comes out from his room and goes to Hayi before saying, "I'm going to Lee Chaerin's. Inform me if you find out anything."

Hayi nods before asking, "But.. Can't I follow you?"

He looks at her with a reluctant smile before caressing her hair softly, making her heart flutter a bit, "It's okay. I think it's better if you stay here and find anything that you can. You know I need to be alone when I'm doing my own analysis."

Hayi stares at him without knowing why, but she really wants to follow him and stay with him, but she knows he wants to be alone.

The both of them end up staring at each other without knowing how to look away, until Yunhyeong claps his hand near them, snapping them out of it.

Yunhyeong chuckles playfully, "How long are you guys going to stare at each other like that?"

They clear their throat as their cheeks turn faint red then. Yunhyeong covers his mouth laughing before going back to his table, still bubbling with laughter.

"I.. I will go first then," Hanbin says and quickly leaves but he stops at the door and turns around before walking back to Hayi and grabs her hand, murmuring, "I have something to tell you. But not now. After we solve this case, that will be the time."

Hayi knows her heartbeat is in an erratic pace right now, feeling their hands touching each other, it is like an electricity strucks through their mind and heart and body.

"Till then, please wait for me," he says again and laces their fingers together shortly before leaving.

Yunhyeong smiles looking at them and says to himself, "He is such a coward. And workaholic brat."

Hayi touches her hand, the place where Hanbin touched and she beams to herself, feeling like she is at the top of the world. She looks up and notices Yunhyeong's grin at her and her cheeks blushes again.

"What are you looking at? Focus on your work," she says in a stern tone before Yunhyeong snickers again.

 

* * *

 

At a LAN Center, Jiwon looks at the photo of Chaerin in the top news and sighs, "Noona... Why did you associate yourself with dangerous people like that?"

He remembers the last time he saw her. The morning of the day she died. He went to her apartment to meet her and she looked so lost and miserable. 

_"Long time no see, Noona," he greeted her by her doorstep._

_"Yeah, it's been awhile," she answered half-heartedly before allowing him in._

_When he rested himself on the couch at the living room, she asked, "What brings you here, Jiwonnie?"_

_He smiled sheepishly, "I just... I miss you, Noona..."_

_She formed a bitter smile before saying, "I miss you too," and he knew she didn't mean it._

_"Are you busy?" He asked, looking at her laptop and saw that she was installing steganographic software._

_"Stegano?" He moved closer to the laptop to take a better look, but she quickly went to close the laptop, "It's nothing!"_

_"Noona?" He furrowed his eyebrows at the way she seemed to be hiding something from him. "What file did you want to hide, that you tried to install Stego?"_

_"It's nothing. You don't have to know-" she stopped before looking up at him, "You are HADES, aren't you?"_

_He was speechless, "H-how did you know...?"_

_"You are my boyfriend, why shouldn't I know?" She lied as she moved closer to him and rested her head against his shoulder, "Then, can you teach me how to hide a file in another file, so that people will not know about the hidden file?"_

_"Why would you want to do it? What are you trying to hide?" He asked curiously as he caressed her hair._

_"I need to hide from the reporters. You know they are damn crazy nowadays," she lied again._

_Without suspecting anything, he nodded and she took the laptop before he taught her how to do it._

_They spent the whole day together, even at times, she seemed to be in a deep thought. Before night came, he decided to leave._

_At the door, he smiled before saying, "Goodbye. See you again, Noona."_

_She didn't respond anything, she only smiled reluctantly before grabbing his hand when he was about to leave._

_"Jiwon," she murmured, "I.. I'm sorry."_

_"Sorry? For what?" He innocently asked._

_"For everything," she answered before pulling him into a reluctant hug, "Be careful. Please."_

_And that's all she said before she closed the door. When he went into the elevator, he heard a man's voice, "Chaerin... Do you have time?"_

_Jiwon was about to come out of the elevator, but the elevator door already closed. That's why, later that night he hacked into her laptop._

 

He sighs the more he remembered it. If only he had more courage to go back instead of stalking like a coward, probably she could be saved.

With a determined mind, he looks around to ensure that no one is looking at him and wears his sunglass, lowering his cap before hacking into the police website. He looked into the database of the employee and finds Hanbin's employee identity card. He smiles and changes Hanbin's photo with his, but the name is still Hanbin.

He basically changes Hanbin's identity card with his photo. Then, he prints it and makes it look like an employee identity card. 

That night, he goes to the police station and enters using that fabricated card, as if he is a staff. Using Hanbin's name.

 

"So, what happened to Kim Jiwon? Did you catch him?" Namjoon asks Mino and Seunghoon when the two came to the evidence analysis lab.

"Catch what? We don't even know if he went up in the sky or he went down into the earth. He just disappeared," Seunghoon answers with a light sigh, "I wonder where he went..." He turns to look at the computer and says, "Since he's a hacker, maybe he's hiding in the computer..?"

Mino snorts, "It's so funny, hyung," and knocks on the computer monitor, "Kim Jiwon... HADES? Are you in there?" And the both of them laugh before Namjoon look at them weirdly.

Mino clears his throat and says, "Okay, then. Thank you. We will head out first," and they leave the evidence analysis lab.

While they are walking, Mino notices someone in a suit walking pass by them. He feels weird because he knows that man is familiar. He stops his track as that man passed by them and disappears into a room.

"Mino?" Seunghoon looks at him, "Is something wrong?"

"I think I know that person."

"Who?" 

"Fuck, that's Kim Jiwon. That HADES!"

"HADES? What do you mean?"

Mino snickers, "Where can we see CCTV of all this place?"

 

Jiwon grins as he finally finds Lee Chaerin's laptop in the evidence store room. He quickly unwraps the laptop from the plastic and opens it before he can feel a gun pointed to his nape.

"Put your hands up," a familiar voice says from behind him.

He turns around and gives a flirty wink as he found out that she is Lee Hayi. "If you tell people to put their hands up with your pretty face, who would put them up?"

"Put your hands up!" She insists, doesn't want to be swayed by Jiwon's flirty strategy.

"Don't you want to know who killed Lee Chaerin?" He asks, his expression turns serious as he looks into her eyes and lifts up the laptop, "In here is the answer."

"Stop making excuses. It's annoying enough that Team Leader Hanbin turns weak when it comes to you and believes you-"

"Why do you think I came in here? If we just find the information inside this, we can find the suspect who really killed Lee Chaerin," Jiwon says with a frustration sigh.

"The person who killed Lee Chaerin is you. Hanbin might believe you, but I'm not. Never," she firmly claims, "The face that reflected on the window in that video you put up was your face."

Jiwon laughs, "What the fuck," he shakes his head before looking at furious Hayi when he cursed, "Digital evidence is easy to change. I believe that video was fabricated from the inside of police station."

Hayi scoffs, "So now you even want to frame police officers?"

Jiwon purses his lips into a thin line and changes the topic, "It's steganography. You also know, steganography is the act of hiding a file in another file. Chaerin used steganography to hide the file."

"What do you mean? What file?"

"Before she died, she was going to send an email to a news broadcasting place, but she couldn't attach the file. Why? Because she was murdered before she got to send it. The frustrating thing is that I didn't get to see that person's face when he deleted the email, but I saw the file that she was going to attach. If we find it, we might be able to know the suspect."

Hayi looks at him and wonders what should she do now? She doesn't want to believe him but she wants to know too. "If so, do it here where I can see you finding that file."

"Sure." Jiwon smiles relievingly.

So, he opens the laptop and starts to extract the hidden file before playing the video that is hidden in the file. The video that Lee Chaerin didn't get to attach in the email. The video that caused her to get killed.

But after watching it, both of their eyes round widely, totally shocked with the content of the video. Hayi points her pistol to Jiwon's head, "What is this? What video is this? Did you set this up??"

Jiwon shakes his head, "No! I.. I don't know..." His eyes flutter in disbelief with the video before Hayi catches his arms and tries to cuff him. At that time, she discovers the employee identity card that he fabricated, "Geez, you are so wicked. You even fabricated Hanbin's employee card in order to gain access into police station?"

Jiwon's lips form a thin line as he thought of the way to escape it. She calls Yunhyeong, "Hello, please come here-"

Jiwon pushes the phone away from Hayi till it drops on the floor and nimbly escapes from Hayi, leaving the place right away. Hayi takes her phone and curses under her breath seeing her cracked phone before deciding to run after him, but he is nowhere to be seen. 

She ruffles her hair in agony, "Damn it! Why is that guy so...!" She sighs, "But that video... Impossible," she holds her chest, "Hanbin-shii, tell me it's not true."

She walks back into the office and dials Hanbin's phone number using the office's telephone, but he doesn't answer it. She keeps calling, but still with no response.

Her heart is beating so hard, she decides to leave a voicemail, "Team Leader, this is Lee Hayi. I have something to ask you," her voice cracks, "I.. I just want you to know that no matter what, I believe in you. I.. I will wait for your call," tears roll down from her eyes, "You asked me to wait for you, so I will wait."

 

"Why would someone come to where he is being looked for, around all these policemen? Do you think he is that crazy?" Seunghoon blabbers while Mino attentively looks at the CCTV recordings.

When the video shows a man in a suit entering the entrance gate, Mino asks the officer to pause the video and smiles satisfiedly as it's clear. He is Jiwon.

Seunghoon gasps, "Heol. I think he is really crazy."

Mino smirks with an amused smile, "Yeah. I think I'm really starting to like this kid. Totally. My style," he laughs, "Waaaahhh, I have never been this excited before," he turns to the officer, "Now, open all CCTVs and locate him."

Mino crosses his arms before Seunghoon points to the CCTV of the entrance gate that shows Jiwon leaving the police station. Mino curses out, "Fuck, he escaped. Quick, we have to chase after him," and they run out of the CCTV room to go after Jiwon but he is nowhere to be found.

Mino and Seunghoon quickly get into their car and Seunghoon asks as soon as he starts the engine, "Where I should I drive to?"

"Let's go to his studio first," Mino says, "I have told them to track his phone."

Seunghoon nods and starts driving.

After awhile, Mino answers a call from his co-workers, "Yes?"

"Jiwon's phone has been turned on. We have found his location. He is in a chemical factory building," Mino smiles, "Let's go."

As soon as they arrived at the factory, Mino creases his eyebrows as he spots Hanbin's car in front of the building. "Eh, why is Hanbin's car there?"

"Did they meet here? After all, they are bestfriends, isn't it?" Seunghoon comments before they are astonished when the whole building is exploded. Completely.

Their eyes widen, Mino's lips tremble as he watched the fire swallowing the whole building.

"What the fuck?" He gapes, "What the hell happened?"

 

* * *

 

2 days later.

 

_"It has been informed that the case where the chemical factory building exploded had caused the murderer of Lee Chaerin case to be dead. There is also a report stating that a policeman was at the scene of the incident as well, but he luckily survived from death, though he is in coma now."_

 

Hayi closes the online report regarding the case and sighs.

"Jiwon is dead? And Team Leader Kim Hanbin survives, but he is in coma. How should I register this?" She sighs again and thinks about the video that she watched with Jiwon that night before.

"Why didn't Hanbin tell me that he went to meet Jiwon?" She asks herself and feels upset. "I really don't understand- Oh God, please help me..."

She looks up and looks at Hanbin's office before going there. She sits on his chair and turns on the PC. She tries to log onto the PC but the password doesn't match. She sighs, "What am I doing right now? Like seriously?"

She pouts and her eyes directed to the frame photo of Hanbin with her, Yunhyeong and Donghyuk before smiling. "Even I have a lot that I want to ask you..." She traces his face on the photo with her fingers longingly, "I really miss you, Kim Hanbin. Truly."

She remembers when she went to visit him in the ICU ward, his whole body is burnt and unrecognizable at all. She still can't believe it. How can something like that happened in just a night?

She inhales deeply and decides to leave, before her eyes spot something unbelievable on the table.

It is Hanbin's employee identity card.

Her heartbeat becomes unstable as her lips quiver. With an anxious heart, she dials Seunghoon's contact number right away.

"Lee.. Lee Hayi..?" Seunghoon's voice from the other line greets her.

She gathers up her courage and asks, "I heard you found Team Leader Kim Hanbin first at the incident scene. How did you know it's him?"

"Oh, yeah. At that time, I really didn't know what to do. He looked so lifeless, with his face burnt and all, but thankfully I saw his identity card, that's how I know he is Kim Hanbin."

Hayi gulps down her saliva hardly, "So he had the identity card with him..?"

"Yes. Why? Is something wrong?" Seunghoon's worried voice echoes in the phonecall.

Hayi looks at the identity card that she is holding right now. Only then, she remembers.

That night, Jiwon wears fabricated identity card of Hanbin.

"Hello? Lee Hayi?"

She bit her lower lip and tries to calm herself, "Y-yes. It's no-nothing. Thank you for answering my question."

She hangs up the call and her fingers tremble with the new fact that she discovers.

_I-impossible... Hanbin... No way..._


	6. Chapter 6

"It's really for just a second, okay?" The nurse says sternly to Hayi before allowing the female detective into the room where  _Hanbin_ is treated.

When the nurse leaves, Hayi quickly puts the police agency thumbprint scanner to identify Hanbin's identity, as she still doesn't want to believe that Hanbin is the one who is dead. Strangely enough, she also doesn't want to hope that Jiwon is not the one who is still alive.

She anxiously holds the patient's hand and presses the thumb against the scanner after setting it to Hanbin's profile. With a nervous heart, she desperately prays so that the scanner will be able to recognize the patient's thumbprint and thus identifies Hanbin, not the hacker.

However, her eyes widen when the screen states  _No Match!_

She feels her body shaking and she shakes her head in disbelief,  _No, this can't be it, no, please, why—_

Her legs weaken and she flops onto the floor with a small sob. That's when she is startled by a sudden subtle tug on her shirt by the patient. She gathers her strength and courage before leaning closer to the almost unrecognizable burnt figure, desperately asking, "Tell me, are you really Kim Jiwon? You are not Kim Hanbin, right? Tell me, talk to me! I—" but she is silenced by the other's weak whisper, "Hanbinnie...still..."

"W- what? What are you saying? Say it more clearly!" she knows she is being unreasonable, but you can say her mental state is definitely not at the best.

She fucking learns that Hanbin is not the one surviving and it completely breaks her heart to figure out that he is no longer alive. He leaves her. He...

Shocking her, his burnt body suddenly shakes hard and he seems to be struggling and panting, making her panic.

"Miss! What have you done?!" the nurse from before rushes in while another nurse drags her out of the room with a glare before entering the room back to continue her duty.

Hayi looks at the scanner and bits her lower lip as she saw how much her fingers are trembling while holding the scanner. She hugs the scanner, feeling an undescribable feeling surrounding her heart now.

Realizing that her phone cracks because of the damned Jiwon at th station beforehand and it is now at the shop for repair, so she stops at a public phone and dialls Yunhyeong's contact number with still trembling hands. It is still very hard for her to digest this information, for her to accept that Hanbin is nowhere near her anymore.

She doesn't even get to utter things she wanted say to him.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Yunhyeong, it's me, Hayi."

Yunhyeong replies, "Ahh, yes, why did you call me? Did something happen?"

"Y-Yunhyeong oppa... It... Actually..." She doesn't even know why she is stuttering and why is it so hard for her to say the words, to tell her team member about the truth.

"Hayi, are you okay? Does Hanbin already wake up?" Yunhyeong asks in his concerned voice and it turns Hayi muted a a tear finally drops from her left eye.

She wipes it and finally mutters, "N-no, I mean... I... I really don't know..."

Yunhyong lets out a soft sigh, "It must be so hard on you. Get some rest, Lee Hayi."

Hayi can only nod and thank Yunhyeong instead of telling him the truth. After he hang up the call, Hayi swallows her saliva hardly,  _Damn, this is... Why...is this happening?_

 

 

A month has passed since then. Hayi doesn't know how, but the autopsy went on well and it is such a miracle that the autopsy was able to identify _Jiwon's_ identity as the deceased. She was undeniably spending the whole day worrying about the autopsy, afraid if ever the whole world finds out that the one dying is not Jiwon, but Hanbin instead, but gladly, it didn't happen.

She really wonders how can it be like that though. Who is behind all of this? 

And... She doesn't know why, but she is just keeping her mouth shut, only waiting for the day Jiwon will fully recover and only then will she attack him with countless questions that she is damn curious about.

For now, Jiwon, with bandages all over him, is still in the treatment. That evening, Hayi finds herself going to the hospital to see Jiwon, to see his development, to see how he is coping with the treatment and chemotheraphy.

From behind the door, she peeks to see Jiwon trying his best to balance himself and walk. When she stares at him, it gets her thinking,  _now that i see him, it's obvious he is jiwon, not hanbin. I know it's not clear, but like seriously?! That hot body is definitely his. Hanbin is not this well-built. He is quite skinny though his biceps are the killer._

She smiles inwardly at the thought and feels bitter afterward.  _Hanbin, you dumb..._

She sighs, as she remembers the words Donghyuk told her before coming here. 

_"The agency will cover the cost for surgery. Our team leader will get surgery to make his face and body like before. And the voice too. Isn't it amazing? So cool!"_

Hayi sighs again,  _it's not even cool. Plastic is not cool. and... How can I see him as Hanbin when I know he is not? Ridiculous._

 

* * *

 

Hayi rushes into the ward and gasps when there is no one there. The nurse turns to her and asks, "Are you looking for Kim Hanbin?"

She almost shakes her head but then, it hits her. So sharp. She reluctantly nods. The nurse smiles, "He is already discharged."

She snorts,  _this brat! He clearly asked me to help him with this._

 

_Hayi looked at the bandaged man on the bed in that ward. Apparently, he was done with the surgery to his whole body and face and she can't deny that she is quite anxious and curious with the outcome of the surgery._

_Is he going to look the same like Hanbin?_

_Just then, Jiwon finally was awake. He looked at her for a brief second before trying to put on a smile behind the bandage over his face._

_"You are..." Hayi naturally leaned closer to his mouth to hear better, "You are...the only one that...I have...now..."_

_She forms a small smile, holding back the urge to throw him questions since he still cannot talk comfortably._

_"I hope...you will...help me..."_

_She nods, "I... I really have lots of questions to ask you, and you better prepare better answers as well. Cause I'm really confused right now."_

_"I understand..." He reached out his hand to hers, "Thank you."_

_She didn't even know why, it's stupid, yeah, because she literally heard Hanbin's voice, even from the beginning? How come she only realized it now? She felt like acknowledging the surgeons' talent._

_"I... I will be able to discharge tomorrow. Can you..help me with that?"_

_She nods without any hesitation, "Sure."_

 

"Already? Where did he go? And who is he with?" 

The nurse blinks her eyes, "Hm, I think he is just...alone? I don't see anyone with him when he left just now."

"When did he leave?" She asks impatiently, afraid if Jiwon is gonna do something stupid.

"Around...30 minutes ago?"

_Damn it!_

She quickly runs out of the hospital and drives to Jiwon's _workplace,_ thinking he would be there, but too bad, there's no one there. She sighs, wondering just where did the punk go?

Right then, she hears sounds of footsteps coming closer. Turning around, she can make out a sight of an average tall figure, looking smart, walking carefully while looking down, along the street not far from her. She lets out a relief sigh to see Jiwon— 

 

_Hanbin...?_

She can feel her whole body freeze there as her eyes never leave him from her sight. It is too magical and absurd, she feels like crying at how perfect Hanbin— oh, it's actually Jiwon.

It's Jiwon. Not Hanbin.

Tears finally fall, running down her cheeks. How can she get used to this? She slaps herself in order for her to come back to her senses.

Bringing her back to the reality, she feels soft touch on her cheeks and when she looks up, she can see  _Hanbin_ pinning his eyes against her eyes and cheeks before that soft fingertips wipe those tears from her eyes and cheeks.

"Stop," she blurts out in defense, feeling embarassed to cry helplessly in front of this hacker who has the whole figure as he beloved, one and only team leader of her.

Obeying what she wants, he takes away his hands from her face. She wipes off the remaining tears and coughs awkwardly when she glances again at Jiwon's new face and feels so... How do she even explain her own feeling at the moment? It is... She doesn't know... It is a mixed feeling.

"Where did you go by yourself?" She asks when she finally calms down and the both of them are now in her car, in front of his old workplace.

"I walk by myself from the hospital to this place," he answers and adds with a pout, "You were too late. I was too tired of waiting for you, so I decided to go by myself," and he smiles cheerfully as he laughs.

To be honest, she is in awe. It is the first time she has ever seen Hanbin— well, yeah, to see that face in a laughing state. Hanbin never laughs in front of her. Only smile. Only now she ever realize that he has dimples, which make him look way cuter.

He stops laughing when she basically offers no reaction. He presses his lips together,  _Guess that's way too friendly. Hanbin is not friendly._

He smiles to himself at his own thought before turning to Hayi, "So, getting serious now, I hope you will help me, Detective Lee Hayi."

She bits her lower lip before asking, "And why should I help you?"

Jiwon flashes a smile, "Why should you help me? Good question. Why? It's because you are the only one who found out about me."

She ruthlessly tries to attack him, mildly attempting to choke him, but of course he is able to grab her hands away, using his strength against her. He chuckles and she feels so annoying, "Damn you HADES!"

He snorts as he lets go of her hands and says, "Before you misunderstand my intention, let me tell you first. That night, someone wanted to kill both Hanbin and I. And that someone, might be Lee Chaerin's killer. That's why, I need you to help me to catch that killer. Hanbin's killer."

"By pretending to be him?" She asks in a more calmer tone this time.

"I have to. You see yourself that I faced such troubles by investigating that case. Cops just can't let me do things my own way, so as Hanbin, I will be able to investigate more comfortably."

"You are making me think that you purposely get Hanbin killed because you wanted this."

Jiwon scoffs at her comment. "Sweetie. You are talented to write a novel. Good enough."

She raises her hand to slap him for that mocking words but again, he is quick to catch her hands. Once again, she swears to herself, _Kim fucking Jiwon is so fucking annoying!_

"For now, I will help you. But the moment I find out you are cheating, I will make sure you rot in jail," she mutters in firm tone.

He smiles, "Such words from a flower like you."

"I guess Hanbin is right about you," the man's eyes flutter at the mention of Hanbin's name, "You are such a casanova. Flirty to the max."

Jiwon releases a fine laughter at that revealation. "That's what he told you about me? That's sick."

Hayi smiles again hearing the sound of the laughter. It's a bit sad that she can only hear it through Jiwon.

"Okay, so first of all, what should I do?" Hayi asks, to not waste the time.

"Well, everything about Hanbin, as a detective. I have to know how he lives and whatsoever."

 

"Heol," Jiwon has his mouth gaped, "He lives in such great apartment like this?"

Hayi smiles lightly before pressing on the passcode to the apartment. Jiwon widens his eyes when she did that, "Wait, how did you know his passcode— you guys—"

She smacks his head lightly when he makes a not-so-appropriate look on his face, as if suggesting that Hayi and Hanbin are together, or probably sleeping together.

"Don't make nonsense imagination. I just happened to know his passcode because he always forgot his. So I helped him to remember whenever he forgot," she finds herself grinning when old memory starts to reside in her mind.

Jiwon snorts to himself when she grinned,  _they must really like each other. Cute._

"I never thought he would allow anyone to see his weakness. That's new," Jiwon comments before entering the apartment and goes awe again to see how neat and tidy the whole interiors.

"Such a neat freak," he says again while admiring the apartment.

"Come here, I will show you the wardrobe," she says as she motions him to Hanbin's bedroom.

She opens the wardrobe and he snorts, "Hey, what the fuck is this shit?"

She glares at him for using such profanities and he says, "Does he really only wear suits? Like seriously?"

Hayi sighs, "It's the working etiquettes."

He laughs insincerely, "So, what I'm saying is, does he only work? He doesn't has any casual wear? Like the things he only do is work, work work?"

"It's a bit sad to say, but yes, Kim Jiwon. Kim Hanbin was like that," she uses the one of the suits to hit him as she says, "You want to be Kim Hanbin, so learn how to be one. And stop whining~!"

Though she sounds like she is nagging at him, Jiwon still finds her so cute. He is...definitely really enjoying this. Enjoying her.

_I'm really sorry, Hanbin. Though I know you are still alive out there, I just can't bring myself to tell her the truth. I'm sorry, but I really think I'm starting to fall for her, like this._


	7. Chapter 7

"From now on, remember what I'm going to say," Hayi says as she shows Jiwon a few pictures of the important people in the agency and she picks one of the pictures, "Yang Hyunsuk is the Director of the Crime Investigation Department. He is a man who treasured Kim Hanbin like a son."

Jiwon snatches the picture from her and looks at it intently, "He treated Hanbin like a son?" He snorts, "Put him at the top of blackmail list."

"Pardon?"

"He would fucking know Hanbin's hobbies and habits the best," he reasons and once again glances at the wardrobe before sighing, "White shirts, suits, neckties," he picks another picture, "I'm suffocating and going to die, for fuck's sake."

"How many times should I tell you, it's the basic attire!" She snaps and he looks at her, "That's why... You guys can't think freely," and he rolls his tongue at her playfully.

She snorts and he points his eyes at the next picture. She clears her throat and says, "Although Director Choi Seunghyun is the top of the Elite who became a director at the youngest age, he had a bad relationship with Hanbin because there is a power game between the Investigation Department and his. The problem is Director Choi will be in charge of the new Cyber Safety Department. Therefore, he becomes our Boss."

Jiwon walks to the refrigerator and she follows right away while explaining, "He will try to provoke you, so you better prepare."

Jiwon opens the refrigerator and Hayi has her mouth gaped wide at the sight of the refrigerator filled with alcohols. Jiwon shamelessly takes one of the tins and dunks it down even when Hayi scolds him, "Team Leader Kim Hanbin didn't even drink alcohol! Why you—"

"Really?" He soullessly asks and mumbles, "That guy leads such a boring life," and Hayi crosses her arms in anger.

"Next," he ignores her anger and finishes the whole tin.

She grits her teeth, feeling damnly annoyed, but she still cpntinues as they walk together to the couch, "These are the people you have to work with in the cyber team," she shows another picture of a fine young lad, "Detective Goo Junhoe, he doesn't know much about computers, but he has a good sense about the crime set."

"He's handsome," Jiwon comments and Hayi widens her eyes, "Are you a gay?"

Jiwon scoffs before leisurely sitting on the couch with her, "Can't a man compliment other man?" he sighs, "This is why you detectives are so bad. Full of prejudices, like what the fuck?"

Hayi snickers before continuing, "Detective Donghyuk used to be famous as a computer genius since he was a middle school student. You have to be extra careful with this one, since he really looks up to Hanbin."

Jiwon asks, "Why?"

"Hanbin was the one who recruited him to this team long time ago. He is especially thankful to Hanbin because without Hanbin, he will still be a jobless bum, without a family."

Jiwon smiles lightly, "He did great... Kim Hanbin," he turns his attention to the next picture of a beautiful black-haired guy, "How about this guy?"

"This is Detective Song Yunhyeong. He used to work as a chef in the restaurant of a private company before he was scouted by the special employment after he somehow managed to prevent the cyber attack against the company."

Jiwon chuckles this time, "That's some interesting shit."

She sighs, "Can you please cut with the cussing?"

He stucks out his tongue at her again and she really wants to strangle him, but instead, she continues with a picture of a man and woman in white lab coats.

"This is Dr Kim Namjoon, who works in the Evidence Analysis Department. He is an expert at recovery of damaged digital evidence while Dr Eunji is an expert in video."

Jiwon stares intently at all the pictures, trying his best to memprize everyone and everything that she told him before she adds, "Remember, if anyone says hello to you, don't smile and just greet lightly."

He rolls his eyes, "What the—" noticing Hayi's glare at him, he looks down like obedient son, "Okay. I understand."

He leans his head against the couch and smiles sadly as he utters, "The person who killed Chaerin Noona and blamed that murder on me... I'm curious about him," he turns serious, "I can't wait to meet him and see how great of a guy he is. Why he wanted to kill Hanbin and why he made me like this."

Hayi reluctantly smiles before she hesitantly pats on his shoulder.

 

* * *

 

Jiwon looks at the building of National Police Agency in front of him and inhales deeply. He walks into the meeting room and sees all of the police leaders and directors gathered in the room. He looks around nervously and recognizes the one Hayi introduced to him before.

Director Yang Hyunsuk.

The director formed a soft smile at him, "Welcome back."

Awkwardly, Jiwon salutes to him and replies, "Thank you."

"Did you recover?"

Jiwon turns to the direction of the voice and sees the director named Choi Seunghyun as Hayi told him.

Again, awkwardly, he replies, "Thanks to you, I become better."

"That's good. There hasn't been anyone that fit to be the no.1 Cyber Crime Team Leader, so, I was becoming a bit worried. But thanks to all of the Generals' talks, we have got a new no.1 Cyber Crime Team Leader."

Someone stands up after Director Choi finished saying that. Jiwon anxiously tilts his head to see the new team leader, replacing Hanbin.

"The new team leader is... Song Minho."

Minho turns to finally face Jiwon with a light smirk. He walks toward Jiwon and offers a handshake, "It's been awhile. Please take care of me."

Jiwon says, "Please treat me with care," and Minho smirks again, feeling almighty that Hanbin is talking formally to him.

 

"I tried really hard but your mistake of acting on your own was too big, so I couldn't prevent your one rank demotion," Director Yang says when he is in the elevator together with Jiwon to go back to the office.

"A Lieutenant can't be a team leader. And people said the Cyber Crime team doesn't have much experience at crime scenes. That's why Song Minho got picked."

Jiwon smiles lightly as he feels quite happy to be treated with so much care by the Director, to feel the care just like from a father, since he never gets to receive one.

When they arrive at the level of the office, the two comes out together and enters the office before Director Yang says, "It won't be easy working under Director Choi and Detective Song. Are you fine with it?"

He softly answers, "It's okay."

Director Yang turns to him, "Are you...really going to be okay?"

Looking at the director's sudden serious stare, Jiwon begins to feel anxiety rosing up in his system again. Then, from behind, Junhoe appears before saying, "It's been a long time," and he handcuffs Jiwon.

Jiwon widens his eyes, feeling scared, but then, a pop sound is heard and turns out, the entire cyber team is actually pranking him. It is just like a birthday party where ribbons are flying around him and Donghyuk emerges with a birthday cake.

He sees Hayi smiling from behind Yunhyeong and Jiwon is so relieved. Donghyuk says, "We're not going to leave you alone if you leave for a crime scene on your own again."

"Gosh, he is really nervous," Yunhyeong says teasingly and Jiwon finally flashes a fond smile at the team.

Hayi gives a warm gaze to him, "Congratulations on coming back," and Yunhyeong winks at her, with a hidden smile while she glares at him.

 

"You can use this room from now on," Hayi says before closing the door shut while Jiwon is busy looking around the room.

She approaches him and asks in a whisper, "Is it true that Detevtive Song Minho is our new team leader?"

Jiwon glances at her and nods before sitting on the chair.

"Detective Song Minho used to hate the Cyber Crime Squad or even a computer. He must have another motive."

Jiwon loosens the tie with a frustration sigh before she mutters, "If Hanbin come back to work, the person that killed Lee Chaerin is probably in action—" she stops as she notices the loosened tie, "Tie your necktie again."

Jiwon snorts with a playful smile. 

"Don't even smile, don't even drink alcohol, and don't even untie the necktie," he snickers, "What? Why don't you just tell me not to breathe?"

She sighs and moves toward him closer and attempts to tie it instead while nagging, "Team Leader Kim Hanbin never showed imperfection. In any case, if you get caught that you're really not Kim Hanbin, it's all going to be over," she looks at him and regrets it right away as he is also looking at her, so their eyes naturally lock.

Looking at how nervous she looks, Jiwon can't help teasing her more by even staring at her more intently. She bits her lower lip and immediately looks away, unable to stand his stare anymore. He beams as she is so cute, being flustered like that.

At that time, Minho and Seunghoon arrives there and Hayi quickly stands. Minho snorts, "What are you guys doing?"

Seunghoon also looks at them with a quit jealous gaze, "I know right."

Acting like nothing happened, she awkwardly stands beside and Seunghoon internally wishes he is _Kim Hanbin_.

Minho looks around the room, "It feels good. The great Kim Hanbin being under me now. Since you were in the hospital for awhile, your personality got a lot better," he gives a mocking stare at Jiwon, "Or, maybe, you just can't hear."

Jiwon smiles lightly, "Say things the right way. I didn't go under you but you got above me. I don't know what the problem though," and he also smirks at Minho.

"That's right!" Minho cheers, "You have to act like that so it's fun!"

 

* * *

 

Hayi stretches herself after working on the case of Lee Chaerin since the morning. She looks at her smartphone and takes it before dialling a voicemail number.

_You have one voice message. First message:_

_"Lee Hayi."_

It is Hanbin's voice. She naturally smiles hearing that voice. The real voice that she longs so much.

_"Don't become like me. Be a good cop."_

She can feel tears starting to run down her eyes hearing his last voice messages.

_Second message:_

_"Hayi... Thank you for everything. And I'm also sorry for everything."_

_Third message:_

_"Hayi... I... I miss you... And... I..."_ but too bad, the rest of the voice message was cut off.

Frankly, after she acquired back her broken phone after getting it repaired and found out about the voicemails from Hanbin, probably recorded before he died, she always listens to it repeatedly every night. Because she really misses him.

Every day and night, she prays so that she can meet him again. She just wants to see him again.

She remembers the real reason she becomes a detective.

Yes, it's because of him.

It was several years ago when she was studying in college and he was a police trainee. At that time, Hanbin and other police trainees went to her college to observe how an investigation is conducted since there is a suicide case at her college.

 

_Hanbin went into the students' hostel and sighed. He was instructed to go into the dead's room to find any evidence after a briefing and demonstration from the police in charge. He wished Jiwon was there with him. Frowning, he wondered why did Jiwon quit, leaving him alone in the challenging journey there? Arriving in front of the room, he saw the name of the students; Lee Hayi and Baek Ayeon._

_He remembers the dead's name was Baek Ayeon, so he guessed the other one must be her roommate. Slowly, he entered the room and turned on the light as it was very dark. However, when he turned around, his eyesight caught a figure beside the bed, with trembling body and... His eyes widened when he found out that she was actually trying to slit her wrist with a knife._

_He got so worried and nervous. Carefully, he moved closer to her and snatched the knife away from her before she cried out, trying to take the knife back._

_"Give it back, please," even her voice was shaking, Hanbin felt so bad, he didn't know what to do._

_He glanced at her nametag which said Lee Hayi and hesitantly, he pulled her into a hug, saying, "Lee Hayi-shi, please don't kill yourself."_

_She cried against his neck, "I killed her— I killed Ayeon—"_

_Hanbin's eyes widened to hear the confession but he felt bad again when she murmured, "If not because of me, she wouldn't commit suicide like this. I did wrong to her— I— I should have been there for her when she needed me, I—"_

_He awkwardly rubbed her back, giving his best to comfort her, which is something he was never good at, "It's fine. It's not your fault."_

 

Hayi smiles again at the past memory. To be honest, after that moment, she exchanged numbers with Hanbin and later deciding to quit college, knowing how horrible her college was with forcing students to get high grades, which was the reason her roommate committed suicide. And she went to the same police academy as Hanbin.

 

That night, when she arrives home, she looks at the steering and wonders what will happen if Hanbin is still alive? Of course, she will not bicker around with Jiwon at all if ever Hanbin is still alive.

Looking up, she furrows her eyebrows to see Jiwon in front of her house. Coming out of her car, she approaches the guy who is looking curiously around her house.

"What are you doing here?" She asks him from behind, startling him.

His eyes rounds, "What? You? What are you doing here?"

She sighs, "What are you doing at my house?"

He looks at the house again and asks, "You...live here?"

She presses her lips together, "Are you asking because you don't know or are you just pretending not to know?"

"I mean—" he looks at his phone, feeling weird but smile eventually as he can grasp finally the real meaning behind this.

"How did you know to come here?" She asks curiously, "I called you all day lomg but you didn't answer. Where have you been today, not even attending work?"

He is still having his eyes on the phone when he says, "Get in."

"What?"

"I will tell you everything that I have done today, so get into my car," and he goes to his own car before she follows right after with a heavy sigh.

 

"Hanbin's GPS... It blew up along with the car during the explosion accident," she says while he is driving.

"That's why I used the phone GPS system on Hanbin's cellphone, just in case."

She looks at him, "Did you find anything?"

He smiles knowingly, "It was all just the precints and crime scenes. That just sounds like Kim Hanbin," and she also smiles, "But there are a few places that smell a bit fishy."

She bits her lower lip before asking, "Is it Yangpyeong?"

He glances at her for a second, "Do you know anything?"

"Actually... It is the place where his father is resting."

"F-father?"

She nods.

 

Jiwon looks at the frail figure of the familiar old man lying down on the bed in the villa at Yangpyeong.

"Since when is he like this?" He asks, still in a disbelief state to see Hanbin's father who is just like his own father, suffering such illness that turn him like a lifeless body, only lying down on the bed, his eyes opened but not speaking at all.

"I'm not sure. Before I started as a police officer, he is already like this," she turns to him, "Didn't you know that although you were his classmate?"

"The last time I saw Hanbin's father, he was fine more than anyone else."

Jiwon leans himself against the wall, feeling devastated a little. 

"No matter how busy he is, he would still make some time to come here once a week," she tells him as she adjusts the blanket covering Hanbin's father.

 

Outside of the villa, Hayi and Jiwon spend some time together at the bench. The maid prepares two cups of tea for them before leaving the two.

"As his classmate, how come you didn't know anything about him?" she asks curiously.

He is taken aback with her question but he remains cool and speaks back with a flirty gaze, "And you sure know a lot about him for being a co-worker of his."

He chuckles when she turns red, "I guess the two of you really share everything with each other."

"What are you talking about?" She looks away, feeling shy.

When his laughter die down, he inhales, "When I left the police academy, I never saw him anymore," he murmurs, "I couldn't meet him, because one was a policeman, and the other was a hacker."

"But... Why did you leave the Police Academy?" She asks the question she is the most curious about him.

He is once again taken aback by her question, but still, he manages to tease her somehow, "And you... Why did you want to be a police officer? Is it because of him?"

She hates that she is blushing again that she smacks his head, "How come each question that I asked to you come to me back in vain?"

He giggles looking at how red she has become before saying sorry to her for endlessly joking around.

"Anyway, Hanbin's navigation really brings back some memories. His father's house... And the house of someone that he always went to every night," he beams, "I can't believe how cute he is. Wht a silent romantic."

She drifts her full attention to him after what he said before he hands her Hanbin's cellphone. And he goes back into his car, leaving her alone to catch some things she missed out on him.

She cluelessly looks at the phone and sees the list of places Hanbin went through the GPS. As she scrolls through, she finally can grasp what did he mean earlier.

It was her house's address.

_So, it was really him who always looked at my house every night._

She smiles contentedly, before tears drop from her eyes. She lets out a reluctant laugh with this painful fate between her and Hanbin.

 

_Hanbin looked at Hayi's house while he was still in his car.  He wondered if she already arrived home? If she was safe? If she was alone?_

_He looked at his phone and saw a text message from her._

_**Did you go to your father?** _

_He is about to reply her but then, he saw her walking to the gate while putting her phone into the handbag. He immediately hid himself, not wanting her to find him there._

_After she opened the gate, he looked back at her and smiled to see her safely into her house. He wished he would be able to send her home or walk her home, so she wouldn't be alone, but he was too shy._

_He sighed at himself, thinking about how much of a coward he was. He remembered during high school, he even had the girl that he liked a lot stolen right in front of him, by his own bestfriend. It was all because of his own cowardice._

_Meanwhile, when Hayi went inside, she stopped in front of the entrance door and turned around to look. She saw Hanbin's car and smiled a little, "is it really his car?"_

 

Hayi wipes the tears off her face as she smiles sadly, "Back then... If I turn back a little earlier, will our relationship change from the way it was?"


End file.
